Dota 2 is a highly sophisticated MOBA game that features more than 100 heroes. Among them, Invoker in Dota 2 is probably the hardest to master. It’s estimated that you need at least 500 games with him to reach basic competency, and it can take 500 – 1000 more games to reach mastery.
Few players dare to play Invoker, but if you can do it well, you get big advantages, especially if you compete below the Ancient level. In this guide, you will learn how to play Invoker in Dota 2 and, more importantly, how to master this hero step by step.
Ways of Playing Invoker in Dota 2
Because he has 10 abilities, Invoker is a highly versatile hero who can be played in various roles and ways. However, the best way to play invoker is in the middle lane, using either a Quas / Wex skill build or a Quas / Exort skill build.
Of course, if the game goes long enough, you’ll naturally become a Quas / Wex / Exort Invoker. But in order for you to be strong during the laning phase and the mid game, you’ll need to pick two specializations and maximize those first.
QW Invoker
The Quas / Wex Invoker build great if you want to roam a lot, fight with your team during the mid portion of the game (from minute 10 to minute 25), have excellent crowd control abilities, and become able to burn your opponents’ mana.
The QW Invoker build usually played with an Urn of Shadows. This cheap item gives you good stats, excellent mana regeneration, and the ability to kill targets with ease during the first part of the game.
If your style is aggressive and you like to create space for your teammates, playing Invoker this way is probably ideal. However, you need to be aware that a QW Invoker farms much less and much slower than a QE Invoker. You’re in trouble if you don’t get a significant advantage for your team by minute 15 – 20.
The advantages of the QW Invoker build are the following:
- You will be very useful to your team much earlier
- You can move quickly and take advantage of Ghost Walk at a low level.
- You can disrupt opponents who like to farm a lot in the mid portion of the game.
- You can easily control multiple opponents during fights with Tornado and burn their mana.
- You are very survivable during the early and mid portions of the game.
When you play a QW build, you need to buy mobility items like Boots of Travel, Force Staff, or Blink Dagger. Your priority should be to gain the ability always to be where the fight takes place and to position yourself correctly.
QE Invoker
The Quas / Exort Invoker build excellent when you need to deal a lot of damage. This build focuses on heavy damage spells such as Sun Strike and Meteor and will allow you to farm the jungle at a fast pace.
Another big advantage of this build is that it allows you to kill enemies from afar using Sun Strike. This global ability can be powerful, especially if you have teammates who can stun, root, or slow enemy heroes.
A QE Invoker reaches his peak slower but stays useful much longer than a QW Invoker. When deciding whether you should play this build, always ask yourself: does my team need me to deal a lot of damage, or do we have enough of it already? Does my team need my assistance early on, or can they create space for me?
When you play the QE build, you should buy an Aghanim’s Scepter as soon as possible, a Blink Dagger, a Black King Bar, and maybe a Eul’s Scepter or Boots of Travel. In some cases, buying Hand of Midas is a great idea, but remember that this build is quite greedy.
A QE Invoker farms using Alacrity and Forge Spirit. And he can do it efficiently as well.
How to Master Invoker
When trying to master Invoker in Dota 2, you need to specialize, subspecialize, and subsubspecialize. In other words, don’t try to learn the hero in one match. Play 20 matches using the same skill build and 2-3 abilities. Don’t try to learn the rest at first because you’ll only mess it up.
The best way to learn invoker is to pretend that he can’t do everything he’s capable of and to play him with self-imposed limitations until you’ve mastered a simplified version of the hero. Then, as you become an expert at the limited version of Invoker, gradually add abilities to your repertoire and learn to play a more sophisticated version.
Go from 2-3 abilities to 3-4 abilities. But practice them so much until you know how to use each one to perfection. Instead of scrambling to figure out what the right ability to use is and then find its combination, play with a small number of them and learn to make good use of them.
If you’re playing below the Legend skill bracket, use Alacrity, Cold Snap, and Forge Spirit first. Do that for 20 games or more until it comes naturally for you to invoke these abilities and never miss the combinations or the right opportunity to use them.
Or, if you feel confident enough, start with Sun Strike, Meteor, and Deafening Blast or Tornado. It’s entirely up to you what combination of skills you learn first. The idea is to focus on fewer elements until they become second nature and only then move on to new ones.
It would feel impossible if you tried to juggle 10 balls at once. You’d probably start with 2 of them and then advance to 3. And so on, until you’ve become an expert.
How to Master Invoker Combos
There are many Invoker combos that you can learn, and there are plenty of great Invoker in Dota 2 who will teach you all of them. In particular, Sumiya and Miracle are probably the best players that you can learn from. Suma1l and w33 are also pretty good.
When you learn Invoker combos, don’t start with all of them at once. Practice one combo for 5 – 10 games until you’ve used it dozens of times. Then move to the next one and practice that. In the meantime, if you find it appropriate to use the first and can remember it easily because it has become automatic, use it as well.
Invoker combos can control crowds during team fights, kill supports, kill the midlane opponent, deal massive damage to several enemy heroes, trap them, drain their mana, etc. You can do a lot with this hero, but you need to do it gradually.
Invoker’s memory is phenomenal. Yours might not be as strong as his. But it doesn’t need to be. Because as long as you focus on one thing at a time until it’s second nature, you can go from noob to expert in months. And then, with your newly acquired expertise, you can increase your MMR significantly.
In low MMR brackets, strong Invokers win games almost on their own. And you’re probably just a few hundred games away from becoming one.
